Just last weekend at Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada, the head men’s basketball coach swished a halfcourt shot that won a student a semester’s tuition - at that school somewhere around $3,000 Canadian.

The same kind of halftime contest can be found on many campuses, where students are pulled out of the stands to shoot for various prizes, such as fees, tickets to the conference tournament, etc.

But last Saturday at CSU Stanislaus I witnessed the cheapest contest in the history of halftime shootouts.

At halftime of the mens’ surprising drilling of CSU San Bernardino, a male student was beckoned from the stands to shoot for pizza. He had 30 seconds to make a layup, a free throw, a 3-point shot and a half-court shot. The prize, as announced, was “free pizza for a year.”

Now for your average starving student, that’s a nice prize. You might even call it generous. Imagine being able to walk into that pizza place every day and eat for free.

This student had some skills. He’d played before. The layup was clean and he swished the free throw. His first attempt at the 3-point shot rolled out, but he drilled his second attempt.

He then moved back to halfcourt with enough time left on the clock to perhaps attempt three shots. He wouldn’t need them, banking home his first try as the crowd erupted.

Free pizza for a year!

Uh, well, not exactly. The fine print was that this promotion’s definition of “free pizza for a year” actually is “one free pizza a month for a year.”

We have a new definition of weak sauce.

I’m not going to name the pizza restaurant behind this promotion in this blog, but I will issue it a challenge. If it’s willing to upgrade the winner’s take to one free pizza a week for a year, I’ll not only visit the establishment for dinner, but I’ll mention its generosity in a future blog.